Title

Solve this!

Broad Question

Can music affect the way people think?

Specific Question

What genres of music can affect people academically?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that classical music will help the subjects do better on a online math addition test.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: Type of music.

Dependent Variable: How much the music helps.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Type of music, volume, where the music and test is tested, amount of subjects, the gender of subjects, how many computers, how long subjects are tested, artist and song.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

• Music- A universal way to communicate through notes and chords.

• iPod- A device that plays music through headphones or an internal speaker.

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General Plan

An experiment was conducted to determine if the type of music listened to effects how well a student does on a math test.The experiment consisted of kids of different genders ages 13 and 14 listening to music while playing a math game (addition). They will be in the conference together at the same time, listening to a different genre each day through a speaker. The grades were written down after playing a game. The kids listened to different types of music before playing. The songs stayed on for exactly 1 minutes. The genres of music changed. The experiment was conducted in the conference room at school.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Possible problems that could have happened were not having the conference room open to us, the iPods not working, kids being absent after being picked, the computers crashing, and music not being available. Ways to prevent these problems are having extra iPods, having a back up room, having back up kids, plugging in the computers, and having music set up before the experiment is conducted.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

No safety or Enviromental concerns

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table

Data Table

Time Line

• Complete design and collection of all materials on 29th of February
• Run a test of the set up, not collecting data on 28th of February
• Conduct trials of experiment experiment March 6th-21st at 12 -12:35 (jbes)
• Work and complete data analysis on wiki page, ( mean, median,range, graph) on April 9th (jbes, home)
• Complete results and conclusion write ups on April 9th (jbes, home)
• Work on display page, complete display page on April 27th (jbes,home)
• Present on April 30th (jbes)

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Background Research

• Listening to music or playing an instrument can actually make you learn better. And research confirms this.
  • Music has the power to enhance some kinds of higher brain function:
  • Reading and literacy skills
  • Spatial-temporal reasoning
  • Mathematical abilities - Even children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder benefit in mathematics tests from listening to music beforehand.
  • Emotional intelligence

• Improves Learning Abilities: Music affects the process of learning and thinking. Listening to quiet and soothing music while working helps you work faster and in a more efficient way. Music has the ability to make you positive and feel motivated. Research has shown that music brings about remarkable improvements in the academic skills of students, who are made to listen to certain kinds of music while studying or working in the lab. Listening to pleasant music, while doing a difficult task, can make it seem easier

• Boosts Confidence: Music has a positive effect on the interpersonal skills of an individual. Lack of confidence and very less or no desire to learn is most often the reason behind a failure. It's not always inability. Students obtaining poor school grades do not necessarily lack intelligence. It's their disinterest in the subjects or the lack of motivation that leads to poor academic performance. Music lessons during school can help the students fight their mental block. Music proves helpful in encouraging young children to venture new fields. It increases their capacity to believe in themselves, that is, in boosting confidence.

• Listening to music can reduce chronic pain from a range of painful conditions, including osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis, by up to 21% and depression by up to 25%
• According to research reported at the American Society of Hypertension meeting in New Orleans, listening to just 30 minutes of classical, Celtic or raga music every day may significantly reduce high blood pressure.
• Whether or not a person liked the style of music did not matter. The tempo, or pace, of the music had the greatest effect on relaxation.
• A daily dose of one's favorite pop melodies, classical music or jazz can speed recovery from debilitating strokes
• Music can boost the immune function. Scientists explain that a particular type of music can create a positive and profound emotional experience, which leads to secretion of immune-boosting hormones. This helps contribute to a reduction in the factors responsible for illness. Listening to music or singing can also decrease levels of stress-related hormone cortisol. Higher levels of cortisol can lead to a decreased immune response
• Listening to music or playing an instrument can actually make you learn better. And research confirms this.
• Music has the power to enhance some kinds of higher brain function:
• Reading and literacy skills
• Spatial-temporal reasoning
• Mathematical abilities - Even children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder benefit in mathematics tests from listening to music beforehand.
• Emotional intelligence
• Mozart's music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, activates the left and right brain. The simultaneous left and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, cause the brain to be more capable of processing information.
• Easy listening music or relaxing classics improves the duration and intensity of concentration in all age groups and ability levels.
• Music reduces muscle tension and improves body movement and coordination
• Relaxing music reduces sympathetic nervous system activity, decreases anxiety, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate and may have positive effects on sleep via muscle relaxation and distraction from thoughts.
• Listening to slow, quiet classical music, is proven to reduce stress. Countless studies have shown that music's relaxing effects can be seen on anyone, including newborns.

References

__http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml____http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090316075843.htm____http://www.buzzle.com/articles/effects-of-music-on-the-mind-and-brain.html__

Detailed Procedure

1. The materials of the experiment were gathered and the subjects were selected.
2. The experiment was conducted in the conference room, throughout the week of Mar. 4.
3. The laptops and music was set up ready to go for them, after we gave them a (paper) instructions on how the test will work. They were all sitting during the test, they did not have paper or pencil.
4. The music was set up on either iPods or on YouTube through the laptops, for the math test there was a math test set up already for them to take on the laptops.
5. The subjects entered the conference room one at a time.
6. A test will be given to the subjects with music (through speakers) and again without music. The subjects were not allowed to have a redo.
7. The subjects will be given a minute to listen to the song before we start, we will give them a signal after a minute and they will begin the test for two minutes until we give them a signal to stop. All together the process will take about 3 minutes.
8. The test scores will be recorded and placed into a data table.

Diagram

Photo List

• Two pictures of the rooms will we use
• Two pictures of the quiz the people will take
• Two pictures of the people taking the quiz
• One picture of the laptops
• One picture of the instructions

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Results

An experiment was conducted to see the effects on music and academics. There was different genres such as Hard rock, Reggae, Hip-hop, Classical, Jazz, and the subjects were also tested with silence. All the genres were rather effective in a good way except for jazz. Jazz showed a decrease in scores and had an average of 90%. Which is a decrease of at least 4% compared to the other genres. The highest scoring genre was reggae with 99%. All the subjects had scored over 90% in reggae. Three out of the four subjects had scored 100% on the test.

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

An experiment was conducted to see if music helped students ( seventh and eighth graders) with academics. The independent variable was the genre of the music. The dependent variable was the percentage ( or average) each genre had received. The experiment question was ‘ Which type of music genre helps subjects with academics and testing?’. The answer is yes, music seemed to help the subjects when it came to taking a math quiz for about two minutes. Reggae had an average of 99%, classical had 98%, hard rock had 97%, hiphop had 95%, silence had 94%, and finally jazz had 90%.

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Discussion

An experiment was conducted to see if listening to music while working, increases academic performance. There were 24 trials conducted between two boys and two girls with five different genres of music and a silent test. The Hypothesis thought up was that music would help academic abilities, and Classical music would be the most successful. Though this is what was thought up, only about half of it was right. All the types of music helped besides Jazz, which dropped 4 percent. Reggae to surprise, was the most effective boosting scores up 5 percent. The relationship of the variables in the conducted experiment is a weak one, having the largest jump only being 5 percent. All of the averages in the experiment stayed in the 90’s, proving the experiment’s relationship to be weak.
In the conducted experiment, there were multiple concerns that were fixed during the design process. There was the fact of if the conductors test all in one day the subjects would have warmed up to the problems given, and that would mess up the question trying to be answered. There was also the deciding of genres, making sure that the genres weren’t too close sounding like Hip Hop and Rap. Then there was the way to actually take the test without it being repetitive answers wise, that was resolved by a math game online which would mix up random addition problems and keep the scores the subjects received. In the future though, the experiment should promptly set up every time before the subjects come into the area of testing, that was another problem with the design.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

The knowledge gained through the experiment will help any person that likes to listen to music while they work. The results of the experiment could easily convince teachers, or bosses to allow music to be played while their students or employees are working. Scientists in the future should conduct the same experiment here, but with every genre of music to prove what is really the best genre of music. This experiment can really help some minor problems in communities and globally.

Abstract

There was an experiment conducted to determine whether or not different genres of music effect students test scores. The results were not as was hypothesized.